Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 1;318(6):L1280-L1281.
doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00153.2020. Epub 2020 May 20.

Estrogen regulates the expression of SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 in differentiated airway epithelial cells

Kimberly E Stelzig  1 , Fabrizio Canepa-Escaro  2 , Marta Schiliro  1 , Sergejs Berdnikovs  3 , Y S Prakash  1   4 , Sergio E Chiarella  5
Affiliations

Estrogen regulates the expression of SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 in differentiated airway epithelial cells

Kimberly E Stelzig et al. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. .

Abstract

There is marked sexual dimorphism in the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here we report that estrogen can regulate the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a key component for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cell entry, in differentiated airway epithelial cells. Further studies are required to elucidate the mechanisms by which sex steroids regulate SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; epithelial cells; estrogen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2; A) and transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2; B) mRNA expression in normal human bronchial epithelial cells grown at the air-liquid interface and treated with vehicle (gray bars) or β-estradiol (white bars). The quantities of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 mRNA were normalized against that of ribosomal protein S16 mRNA. n = 4 experimental replicates. *P < 0.05 by 2-tailed Student’s t test. NS, not significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alghamdi IG, Hussain II, Almalki SS, Alghamdi MS, Alghamdi MM, El-Sheemy MA. The pattern of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia: a descriptive epidemiological analysis of data from the Saudi Ministry of Health. Int J Gen Med 7: 417–423, 2014. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S67061. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Channappanavar R, Fett C, Mack M, Ten Eyck PP, Meyerholz DK, Perlman S. Sex-based differences in susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection. J Immunol 198: 4046–4053, 2017. doi:10.4049/jimmunol.1601896. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, Qiu Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Wei Y, Xia J, Yu T, Zhang X, Zhang L. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet 395: 507–513, 2020. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30211-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grasselli G, Zangrillo A, Zanella A, Antonelli M, Cabrini L, Castelli A, Cereda D, Coluccello A, Foti G, Fumagalli R, Iotti G, Latronico N, Lorini L, Merler S, Natalini G, Piatti A, Ranieri MV, Scandroglio AM, Storti E, Cecconi M, Pesenti A, Nailescu A, Corona A, Zangrillo A, Protti A, Albertin A, Forastieri Molinari A, Lombardo A, Pezzi A, Benini A, Scandroglio AM, Malara A, Castelli A, Coluccello A, Micucci A, Pesenti A, Sala A, Alborghetti A, Antonini B, Capra C, Troiano C, Roscitano C, Radrizzani D, Chiumello D, Coppini D, Guzzon D, Costantini E, Malpetti E, Zoia E, Catena E, Agosteo E, Barbara E, Beretta E, Boselli E, Storti E, Harizay F, Della Mura F, Lorini FL, Donato Sigurtà F, Marino F, Mojoli F, Rasulo F, Grasselli G, Casella G, De Filippi G, Castelli G, Aldegheri G, Gallioli G, Lotti G, Albano G, Landoni G, Marino G, Vitale G, Battista Perego G, Evasi G, Citerio G, Foti G, Natalini G, Merli G, Sforzini I, Bianciardi L, Carnevale L, Grazioli L, Cabrini L, Guatteri L, Salvi L, Dei Poli M, Galletti M, Gemma M, Ranucci M, Riccio M, Borelli M, Zambon M, Subert M, Cecconi M, Mazzoni MG, Raimondi M, Panigada M, Belliato M, Bronzini N, Latronico N, Petrucci N, Belgiorno N, Tagliabue P, Cortellazzi P, Gnesin P, Grosso P, Gritti P, Perazzo P, Severgnini P, Ruggeri P, Sebastiano P, Covello RD, Fernandez-Olmos R, Fumagalli R, Keim R, Rona R, Valsecchi R, Cattaneo S, Colombo S, Cirri S, Bonazzi S, Greco S, Muttini S, Langer T, Alaimo V, Viola U; COVID-19 Lombardy ICU Network . Baseline characteristics and outcomes of 1591 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 admitted to ICUs of the Lombardy region, Italy. JAMA 323: 1574–1581, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.5394. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guan WJ, Ni ZY, Hu Y, Liang WH, Ou CQ, He JX, Liu L, Shan H, Lei CL, Hui DS, Du B, Li LJ, Zeng G, Yuen KY, Chen RC, Tang CL, Wang T, Chen PY, Xiang J, Li SY, Wang JL, Liang ZJ, Peng YX, Wei L, Liu Y, Hu YH, Peng P, Wang JM, Liu JY, Chen Z, Li G, Zheng ZJ, Qiu SQ, Luo J, Ye CJ, Zhu SY, Zhong NS; China Medical Treatment Expert Group for Covid-19 . Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med 382: 1708–1720, 2020. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2002032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources